Apparatus, and associated method, for alerting user of communication device of entries on a mail message distribution list

ABSTRACT

Apparatus, and an associated method, for alerting a respondent that generates a reply to a received mail message of addressing of the reply message to a non-secure address. A detector detects reception of a received mail message, and a correlator determines whether any of the entries on a distribution list associated with the received mail message is of selected characteristics, i.e., non-secure. If determined to be non-secure, an annunciator generates an annunciation requiring the respondent to elect whether to include the identified address as a recipient of the reply message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of, claims benefit of, andincorporates by reference U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/424,895titled “Apparatus, And Associated Method, For Alerting User OfCommunication Device Of Entries On A Mail Message Distribution List,”filed on Jun. 19, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,865,555.

The present invention relates generally to communication devices thatare capable of communicating mail messages, i.e., text messagesaddressed to one or more recipients included on a distribution list.More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus, and anassociated method, for warning a user of a communication device that adistribution list to which a mail message is addressed is non-secure,such as an address external to a business, or other, organization.

By warning the user, sending of a reply mail message inadvertently to anon-secure address is less likely to occur. When, e.g., a recipient of amail message replies “to all” of the entries on the received-messagedistribution list, an overlooked address on the list, associated with anon-secure destination is highlighted, or otherwise alerted to the user.The user is able then to remove the address from the distribution listof the reply message.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many varied types of communication systems provide for the communicationof textual data. Mail messaging, for instance, provides for thecommunication of textual data to one or more recipients. Many computer,and other digital-based, communication networks sometimes provide formail messaging. Many communication sessions involve, or consist of,exchange of mail messages between communication devices that areconnected to a communication network. The parties to a mail messagingcommunication session need not concurrently communicate. Rather, by wayof, e.g., a store-and-forward scheme, the sending party sends a mailmessage to a recipient, and the recipient party retrieves thecommunicated message when convenient. And, the recipient of thecommunicated message replies to the sent message, for subsequentretrieval by the recipient of the responsive message.

While mail messaging was first carried out between computer stationsfixedly connected to wired, local area networks, mail messaging was soonpermitted between devices connected to the Internet, or other wide areanetwork. And, more recently, mobile communication devices, such asmobile stations operable in cellular radio communication systems, havebeen developed that are also capable of sending and receiving mailmessages, together with attachments. Communication of textual data with,and between, mobile stations is advantageous for the same reasons forwhich mail messaging is popularly utilized using computer stations, andthe like, that are fixedly connected to a communication network. Theuser of a mobile communication device retrieves a transmitted message atconvenience, and responds thereto, also at convenience.

A conventional mail message is typically formatted to identify to whomto send the message and also a message body. Addressing information issometimes formed of one or more distribution lists, e.g., a “to:” and a“cc:” list. Each list sometimes includes a significant number ofentries. A single message is, as a result, communicated by a singlesending station to a plurality of recipient stations. And, a recipientof the message is typically capable of correspondingly communicating areply to a plurality of communication devices.

While the parties to whom a reply message is sent is generallyselectable by the respondent to a received message, the respondentsometimes elects merely to reply to all of the parties to whom thereceived message was sent. Some mail messaging schemes provide for a“reply to all” configuration in which, as a default, a reply messagegenerated by a recipient is sent to all addresses to which the receivedmessage had been sent. That is to say, if the received message includesa “to:” distribution list, the reply message is sent, by default, to alladdresses contained in the “to:” distribution list. And, if the receivedmessage includes a “cc:” distribution list, the reply message generatedby the respondent is sent to all of the entries on the “cc:”distribution list.

A user generating the reply, the respondent, might sometimes notcarefully review the entries on the distribution lists to which thereply message is to be sent. And, the respondent might inadvertentlysend a reply message to a party to whom the respondent might not wantthe reply message to be sent. For instance, if a mail message isdelivered to a party within a business, or other, organization, and thedistribution list includes entries that are external to theorganization, a reply message generated by the recipient, if sent to allof the parties on the distribution list, is sent to addresses that areexternal to the organization. If the respondent party fails to noticethat a distribution entry is associated with an external address, therespondent might inadvertently send a message, such as a messagecontaining proprietary information, to the external party, inadvertentlythereby providing the external party with proprietary information.

As, increasingly, the communication devices between which mail messagesare communicated comprise mobile devices, having small user displayscreens, distribution list entries are more likely not to be noticed.And, in some communication devices, the entries on the distributionlists are not automatically displayed for perusal by a user.

An improved manner by which to alert a user of a communication device,such as a mobile station, that is used pursuant to mail messaging of thedistribution list entries, would therefore be advantageous.

It is in light of this background information relating to mail messagingsystems that the significant improvements of the present invention haveevolved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a functional block diagram of an exemplarycommunication system in which an embodiment of the present invention isoperable.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary set of mail messages, a received mailmessage, and a reply message generated during operation of acommunication device of the communication system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates a process diagram representative of exemplaryoperation of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method flow diagram representative of the method ofoperation of an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention, accordingly, advantageously provides apparatus,and an associated methodology, for a communication device that iscapable of communicating mail messages, i.e., text messages addressed toone or more recipients included on a distribution list.

Through operation of an embodiment of the present invention, a manner isprovided for warning a user of a communication device that adistribution list entry to which a mail message is addressed isnon-secure, such as an address external to a business, or other,organization.

In one aspect of the present invention, the user is warned of anon-secure address in the reply-message distribution list, thereby tolessen the likelihood of inadvertent transmission of the message to thenon-secure address. For example, when a recipient of a mail messagereplies to all of the entries, i.e., a “reply to all”, when respondingto a received mail message, a determination is made as to whether any ofthe entries on the “to all” distribution list is a non-secure address.If so-determined, an alert is generated to alert the respondent of thenon-secure address. The respondent selects whether to remove thenon-secure address from the reply-message distribution list or to affirmthat the message is to be sent to the non-secure address. Inadvertentsending of a message to a non-secure address is less likely to occur asthe respondent is made aware of the inclusion of the non-secure addresson the distribution list.

In another aspect of the present invention, a received-message detectordetects delivery at a communication device of a mail message. The mailmessage includes an addressing part, that is, a list, forming adistribution list, that identifies the addresses to which the receivedmessage has been sent. The addresses form entries on distribution lists,such as the to: and the cc: lists that form parts of the received mailmessage. Such detection identifies each of the addresses to which thereceived mail message has been sent. When a reply message is addressedto a “reply to all” group of addresses, the distribution list of theresultant reply message is correspondent to, that is, the same as, thereceived-message distribution list.

In another aspect of the present invention, a distribution listcorrelator is provided with indications of the entries on thedistribution lists associated with the received message to which a replymessage is to be responsive. The correlator analyzes the entries formedof the addresses contained on the lists. And, the correlator determineswhether any of the addresses form non-secure addresses. The addressesare considered to be non-secure based upon any of various criteria,e.g., the domain of the address. If, for example, the domain of theaddress indicates the address to be external to the organization ofwhich the recipient forms a portion, the external address is consideredto be a non-secure address. In one implementation, multiple securitylevels are defined; the security levels could be defined in a databasein the device, for example.

In another implementation, messages communicated with selected addressesare encrypted. When an entry on a distribution list is associated withan external address with which messages are encrypted, the address canbe configured such that it is considered to be secure even though it isan external address.

In order to determine the security level of a message, in oneimplementation the correlator could use a security level database and alist of address entries programmed in the device. The content of thesecurity level database could be used to aid the correlator in tellingthe alert generator 46 when and how to alert the user of an externaladdress. Possible settings could include the following: “no alert”,“alert user”, “force user acknowledgement”, “force user acknowledgementonly on mixed internal/external”. Upon examining a message, if thedatabase were set to “no alert” the correlator would instruct the alertgenerator not to warn the user about external addresses. Upon examininga message, if the database were set to “alert user”, the correlatorwould instruct the alert generator to highlight on the user display 32any external addresses in the reply message. Upon examining a message,if the database were set to “force user acknowledgement”, the correlatorwould instruct the alert generator to highlight on the user display 32any external address in the reply message and, in addition, force a useracknowledgement by means of a popup dialog box to the user, for example,where the dialog box would warn the user of the external addresses andrequire further input on the user input actuator before the messagewould be allowed to be sent. Upon examining a message, if the databasewere set to “force user acknowledgement only on mixedinternal/external”, the correlator would determine if the addresses onthe to: list and cc: list are all external addresses and instruct thealert generator as it would for “alert user” if there were only externaladdresses and instruct the alert generator as it would for “force useracknowledgement” if there were both internal and external addressesincluded. Each entry in the address list would consist of a domain oraddress and associated security parameters. Entries in the address listwould correspond to an exception to the behavior specified by thesecurity level database. Possible associated security parameters include“no alert”, “alert”, “force user acknowledgement”, “alert: external butencrypted”, “force user acknowledgement: external but encrypted”. If thecorrelator finds an address in the to: list or cc: list whose addresslist security parameter is set to “no alert”, it would treat thataddress as if it were not an external address and would not trigger analert upon finding that address; this would be useful for example in thecase where a first company whose email addresses used a domain such ascompany1.com acquired a second company whose email addresses used asecond domain such as company2.com and the first company did not want tocause warnings for replies to emails to users of the newly acquiredsecond company. If the correlator finds an address in the to: list orcc: list whose address list security parameter is set to “alert”, itwould cause the alert generator to generate an alert even if thedatabase were set to “no alert”. Likewise, if the correlator finds anaddress in the to: list or cc: list whose address list securityparameter is set to “force user acknowledgement”, it would cause thealert generator to generate an alert and to force a user acknowledgementeven if the database were set to “no alert”. If the correlator finds anaddress in the to: list or cc: list whose address list securityparameter is set to “alert: external but encrypted”, it would cause thealert generator to generate a special alert for this address to indicatethat it is an external address, but that the email to this address isencrypted such that it would not be readable to someone who interceptedit on the internet; for example, if the alert generator caused addressesthat are merely external to be highlighted in red, the alert generatorcould cause addresses that are external but encrypted to be highlightedin a different color such as yellow. If the correlator finds an addressin the to: list or cc: list whose address list security parameter is setto “force user acknowledgement: external but encrypted”, it would causethe alert generator to generate a special alert for this address and inaddition cause the alert generator to force an acknowledgement from theuser and in the acknowledgement indicate to the user that there is anexternal address to which the message will be encrypted in the to: orcc: list; in the case of all of the external addresses in the messagebeing encrypted, the alert could merely warn the user that there areexternal addresses to which the message will be encrypted, but in thecase of both external addresses in the message with some encrypted andsome not, the user would be warned of both in the warning.

In another aspect of the present invention, an annunciator is providedwith indications of determinations made by the distribution listcorrelator and of generation of a reply message responsive to a receivedmail message. The annunciator generates an alert to alert the respondentof the inclusion of the distribution list of a non-secure address.Responsive to the alert to the respondent, selection is made to removethe non-secure address from the distribution list or to permit themailing of the reply message to the address that is annunciated.

In another aspect of the present invention, the annunciation made by theannunciator forms a visual display displayed upon the display element ofa user interface. Any of various displays are caused to be displayed toalert the respondent to the non-secure address. Highlighting of anaddress in a display of the distribution list, e.g., alerts the user tothe non-secure address. Or, a reordering of the distribution list iscarried out to sequence the addresses in the list to identify, e.g., thenon-secure address at a top part of the listing. Or, the user displaydisplays a pop-up dialog box that identifies the non-secure address toprovide the respondent with the opportunity to remove the address fromthe distribution list before sending the message.

Thereby, the user is alerted to the presence of a non-secure address inthe distribution list associated with the reply message that isgenerated to reply to a received message. Inadvertent mailing of amessage to a non-secure address is less likely to occur.

In these and other aspects, apparatus, and an associated method, isprovided for generating an alert for a user of a communication devicethat communicates mail messages. An outgoing message detector isconfigured to detect generation, at the communication device, of anoutgoing mail message addressed to an outgoing distribution list and todetect each entry of the outgoing distribution list. An annunciator isadapted to receive indications of the outgoing distribution listdetected by the outgoing message detector. The annunciator is configuredto annunciate an entry on the outgoing distribution list to which theoutgoing mail message is addressed if indicative of an address of firstselected parameters.

Referring, therefore, first to FIG. 1, a communication system, showngenerally at 10, provides for communication of textual data, hereinreferred to as messages, between communication stations. In theexemplary implementation, the communication system 10 forms a radiocommunication system having a network part 12 that communicates withcommunication devices, of which the mobile station 14 is exemplary. Themessages are communicated between the network part and the mobilestation by way of a radio air interface, here represented by the arrow16.

A mail message originated at a communication endpoint, here representedby a computer station 18, is routed, by way of the network part and theradio air interface for delivery to the mobile station 14. And, amessage originated at the mobile station for delivery to the computerstation 18 is sent by way of the radio air interface and the networkpart 12. And, a reply message, generated at the mobile station inresponse to a message received from the computer station 18 is similarlysent by way of the radio air interface and the network part for deliveryto its destination. A mail message includes a header, or addressing,part to which a message body is concatenated. The addressing or headerpart contains the address, of an RFC 822 address of the person to whomthe message is to be sent. When the message is to be sent to multipledestinations, the addressing or header part of the message identifiesthe addresses of the multiple destinations.

Conventional mail messaging applications are available, and regularlyutilized by users of computer stations and other communication devicesby which to communicate mail messages. The mail message applicationstypically permit a user to enter textual data by way of a keyboard, orother input actuator, and to address the mail message with the addressor addresses to which the mail message is to be sent. The addresses aresometimes mnemonics that are converted by a communication systempursuant to routing of the message, when sent.

The mobile station 14 includes radio transceiver circuitry, hererepresented by a receive part 24 and a transmit part 26, thattransceiver signals with the network part 12, including signalsrepresentative of mail messages that are communicated pursuant to a mailmessaging communication scheme. When a mail message is sent to themobile station, the receive part 24 detects its delivery at the mobilestation. And, the transmit part operates to send a message formed at themobile station upon the radio air interface 16. Analogous structurepermits messages to be generated and received at other communicationdevices, of which the computer station 18 is representative.

The mobile station also includes a user interface 28 including a userdisplay 32 and a user input actuator 34. The user display isconventionally formed of a liquid crystal display, or the like, ofdimensions permitting its positioning at a face of the housing thatsupports the mobile station. And, the user input actuator conventionallyforms a keypad actuator, sometimes including a qwerty keyboard. Due tothe need to package the mobile station in a housing of smallconfiguration, the user display typically is of height-wise andwidth-wise dimensions of only several centimeters. The amount ofinformation displayable, at any time, upon the display is therebylimited. For instance, when the display displays a received mailmessage, if the message is lengthy, only a portion of the message isdisplayable at any time. A scrolling feature is sometimes provided topermit manual, or automatic, scrolling through the entire text of themessage. And, if displayed, the distribution list, or the addresses towhich the received message has been sent, is displayed on the displayelement. But, the entries on the distribution list are typically notprominently indicated. The entries, in some applications, e.g., arelisted in a horizontal series, one following another, segregated onlyby, e.g., their entry on a to: or cc: list. A viewer of the display,i.e., the user of the mobile station, might easily not notice every oneof the entries identified on the distribution list. If, in response to areceived message, the user of the mobile station elects to reply with areply message, the user might elect also to reply to all of the entrieson the distribution list associated with the received message. However,the respondent, i.e., the user, might not notice, or be cognizant of,each of the addresses to which the reply message is to be sent. And, areply message might include information that would be inappropriate fordelivery to one or more of the addresses on the distribution list. Therespondent in such a scenario would inadvertently send a reply messageto an inappropriate party.

To reduce the likelihood of such an occurrence, the mobile station 14includes apparatus 38 of an embodiment of the present invention. Theapparatus operates to facilitate alert to a user of a distribution listentry that is determined to be an address associated with a non-securelocation, thereby to alert the user of the mobile station of itsinclusion on the reply-message distribution list. By alerting therespondent of the inclusion of the non-secure address on thedistribution list, the respondent is provided additional opportunity toremove the entry from the distribution list. The apparatus isfunctionally represented, implementable in any desired manner, includingby algorithms executable by processing circuitry. Non-secure isdefinable in any desired manner, defined, e.g., by the domain of theaddress being different that the user's, the address not contained on a“friends” list, etc.

The apparatus includes a detector 42 that is connected to the receivepart to receive indications of reception at the mobile station of areceived message together with its distribution list or lists.Detections made by the detector are provided to a distribution listcorrelator 44. The correlator 44 analyzes the detected distribution listentries of the received message and determines whether the entries areof selected characteristics, such as, e.g., associated with domainsother than the domain of which the mobile station is associated. Theselected characteristics also include, in one implementation,indications of whether the address of the entry is an address with whichmessages are communicated in encrypted form. The correlator, in afurther implementation, provides multiple determinations, permittingcorresponding multiple security levels or warning levels to beassociated with the addresses forming the entries on the distributionlist or lists. The characteristics used by the determiner and comparedwith the entries of the distribution lists are, in one implementation,user selectable. In another implementation, the characteristics areselected elsewhere, such as by a business organization securitydepartment. For instance, a policy is selected, or otherwise mandated,by appropriate department personnel, provided to a communication server,such as a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server (BES) that operates thereafterin conformity with the policy. Friend lists, e.g., are also selectableby a user. Other-company lists (i.e., external company lists) areanalogously selectable.

For the case of policy selected by appropriate department personnel andprovided to a communication server such as a BES, the policy would beprogrammed for a particular user in the communication server and thensent (i.e. pushed) to the user's device 14 and then stored in the memoryof the device 14. As described above, a device could include a securitylevel database and also an address list whose members have associatesecurity parameters. For devices newly activated, the policy couldspecify a default security level database and also a default addresslist. The policy could also specify whether the user is allowed tochange the security level database and or address list. If thedepartment personal determined a need to change the policy, they wouldupdate the policy (including security level database and address list)in the communication server and then the new policy would be pushed tothe device and programmed into the device. The policy could also allowthe user to program in his device include additional members in theaddress list in addition to the ones provided in the policy pushed tothe device; the policy could also disallow the user from doing this.

The apparatus further includes an alert generator 46 that is coupled toreceive indications of determinations made by the correlator, at leastof the entries that are of selected parameters that are indicative of anentry that is non-secure. When the user of the mobile station elects toreply to a received message using a distribution list of the receivedmessage, the alert generator causes generation of an alert, here avisual alert, to alert the user of the mobile station of the inclusionof the non-secure address on the responsive message distribution list.The line 48 extending between the alert generator and the display isrepresentative of the provision of the alert to the display element.And, the line 52 is representative of an indication provided to thealert generator of a reply message generated by the user in reply to areceived message and, specifically, a reply message that utilizes part,or all, of a distribution list of the received message.

In one implementation, the alert generated by the alert generatorrequires additional input by the user of the mobile station to permitsubsequent reply-message transmission. Thereby, the user is compelled toaffirm that the sending of the message to the alerted address isappropriate or elect to remove the address from the distribution list ofthe reply message.

Thereby, a user is less likely to inadvertently to send a reply messageto a party to whom the sending of the message would be inappropriate.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary set 54 of mail messages communicatedduring operation of the communication system 10 shown in FIG. 1. The setof mail messages includes a first mail message 56 and a second message58. The first message 56 is representative of a mail message received atthe mobile station 14, originated at the computer station 18. And, thesecond message 58 is representative of a reply message, generated at themobile station in reply to the received message, received at the mobilestation.

In conventional manner, the mail message includes an addressing partincluding a from: 62 line, a to: 64 line, a cc: line 66, and a subject:line 68. The addresses identified on the lines 62, 64, and 66, or theirRFC 822 equivalents, are sometimes referred to as being part of themessage header part of the mail message. The mail message also includesa body 72 that forms the message readable by the recipient of themessage.

If the received mail message 56 chooses to reply, the recipientgenerates a reply message body 74. Sometimes, when the recipient choosesto reply to the received message, the recipient, now referred to as arespondent, elects to send the reply message to each of the addresses towhich the received message had been sent. That is to say, the sameaddresses, with appropriate change in message direction, that are listedon the lines 62, 64, and 66 in the first message 56, are used to addressthe reply message that is formed at the mobile station for return to theoriginating location, thereby to inform all of the parties that wereaddressed in the first message of the reply made by the respondent.

As noted above, the respondent may inadvertently include addresses ofparties that should not receive the reply message for any of variousreasons. For instance, the reply message might contain proprietaryinformation or other information not appropriate for reading by certainparties. Through operation of the apparatus 38 shown in FIG. 1, theinadvertent sending of a message to an address identified to benon-secure, i.e., exhibit characteristics, such as a foreign domainname, is less likely to occur. The respondent is alerted to the address,and the respondent elects whether to include the address in the list ofaddresses to which the reply message is sent.

Alert of the addresses made to the respondent in any of various mannersusing displays caused to be displayed upon the user display 32 shown inFIG. 1. The user display is caused, for instance, to modify the text ofthe identified address by changing its color of display, by highlightingthe address, by bolding the address, by changing the font of theaddress, or any other manner by which to make the identified address oraddresses different than others of the addresses. Or, for instance, thecompany name or domain name of the identified address is displayed inparentheses next to the name identified by the address. When thedistribution list, i.e., the to: and cc: lists, are so lengthy as not tofit on the user display, the addresses are sortable such that theidentified addresses are prioritized to ensure better viewing on theuser display. The user display, in one implementation, presents a pop-updialog box to alert the respondent of the identified address. Forinstance, upon completing the reply message and initiating its sendingby means of the input actuator on the user input actuator, the pop-updialog box is caused to be displayed together with a message such as,“This message is addressed to external email addresses. Are you sure youwant to send it?” And, appropriate response selections, such as, “send”,“view external addresses”, and “cancel”, are available for userselection, also by way of actuation of the user input actuator.

Thereby, the user is provided with an option to send or to cancelsending of the message to the identified address or addresses. If thelist is of a relatively short length, that is, short enough to bedisplayed, the “view external addresses” selection is, if desired,omitted from the initial dialog box and the addresses are simplydisplayed. And, in another implementation, the user is forced to vieweach identified address, e.g., each external or foreign address, priorto permitting the sending of the message.

Selection of the criteria used by which to identify the addresses thatare non-secure is, in one implementation, user selectable, such as byway of user actuation of actuation keys of the user input actuator. Inanother implementation, the criteria is selected by supervisorypersonnel of a business organization and implemented on theorganization's BES or other communication server. Any email with anexternal email address in the reply-message distribution list is warned.The external email address is determined by the domain name of the emailaddress. In such an implementation, if the domain name of the address isnot equal to the domain name of the recipient's address, a warning isgenerated. Alternately, a warning is generated when the distributionlist of the reply message includes both internal and external addresses.And, in another implementation, specific domain names, or individualaddresses, are configured that, when identified, do not cause generationof the warning. A flag value, e.g., associated with the address ordomain name is detected and its detection causes the warning, thatotherwise would be generated, not to be generated.

Additionally, in one implementation, several levels of security aredefined, and annunciation is made in different manners depending uponwhich level of security that an address is associated. For instance,with respect to the exemplary distribution lists shown in the messagesof FIG. 2, the address associated with harry.johnson@company2.com isalerted in a manner different than the manner by which the addressassociated with mary.davis@competitor1.com is alerted. In variousimplementations, combinations of the aforementioned alerting proceduresand protocols are utilized. And, in yet further implementations, othermanners of alerting, including aural alerting procedures are utilized.

FIG. 3 illustrates a process diagram shown generally at 78,representative of exemplary operation of the apparatus 38 embodied atthe mobile station 14 of an embodiment of the present invention.

Subsequent to start at the start block 80, and as indicated by the block82, a message is received at the mobile station. Reception of themessage is detected, for instance, by the detector 42. Then, asindicated by the decision block 84, a determination is made as towhether a reply is generated in response to the received message. Ifnot, the no branch is taken back and monitoring is performed to detectreception of a subsequent, received message. If the user elects torespond, the yes branch is taken to the decision block 86. At thedecision block 86, a determination is made as to the existence ofdistribution lists, either to: or cc: lists, in the received messagethat are elected to be used for the reply message. If not, a no branchis again taken.

If, distribution lists are to be used in the reply message, the yesbranch is taken to the decision block 88-1 and a determination is madeas to whether any list entries are associated with a certain level ofsecurity. If so, the yes branch is taken to the block 92-1, andannunciation is made. If not, the no branch is taken to the decisionblock 88-N, and a determination is made as to whether any of the entrieson the distribution list are associated with an nth level of security.If not, a no branch is taken to an end block. Otherwise, the yes branchis taken to block 92-N, and annunciation is caused to be made.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method flow diagram, shown generally at 102,representative of operation of an embodiment of the present invention.The method generates an alert for a user of a communication device thatcommunicates mail messages.

First, and as indicated by the block 104, detection of reception of areceived message is made. Then, and as indicated by the block 106,generation, at the communication device, of an outgoing mail messageaddressed to an outgoing distribution list is detected together witheach entry of the outgoing distribution list.

Then, and as indicated by the block 108, a determination is made whetheran entry on the outgoing distribution list is indicative of an addressof first selected parameters. And, as indicated by the block 112, entryon the outgoing distribution list indicative of an address of the firstselected parameters is annunciated.

Thereby, through operation of an embodiment of the present invention, amanner is provided by which inadvertent sending of a reply message to anaddress that is non-secure, or is otherwise inappropriate, is lesslikely to occur.

The previous descriptions are of preferred examples for implementing theinvention, and the scope of the invention should not necessarily belimited by this description. The scope of the present invention isdefined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: displaying an unsentoutgoing text message including one or more electronic addresses;determining whether any of the one or more electronic addresses is anon-secure address; providing a warning of any non-secure address. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the non-secure electronic addresscomprises a domain name identified as non-secure.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein a non-secure electronic address has a domain name differentthan a domain name for a sender of the text message.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a non-secure electronic address has a domain name on anon-secure domain name list.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thenon-secure electronic address comprises an address external to abusiness or organization of a sender of the text message.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the warning comprises highlighting non-secureaddresses of the one or more electronic addresses.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the warning comprises coloring the non-secure addressesin a first color.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receivingaffirmation to send the text message before sending the text message. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the text message is an email message. 10.The method of claim 1, wherein the warning is provided while the unsentoutgoing text message is unsent.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein thedomain name follows an @ symbol in the electronic address.
 12. A methodcomprising: providing, by a communication device, a warning indicativeof a non-secure electronic message address being included within anunsent electronic message.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein thenon-secure electronic message address has a domain name different than adomain name of the sender of the unsent electronic message.